Draft Pool News (Mar. 4)

Another goaltending incident, similar to Niklas Backstrom of the Wild's on Friday night, happened again on Saturday afternoon, as Tuukka Rask had to leave the Bruins' game against the Islanders with a lower-body injury. Rask went down for a save and looked to have tweaked something on the way back up from the butterfly position, much like Backstrom's groin strain, which will now keep the Wild goaltender out for up to a month.

There has been no confirmation of the injury severity of the injury, but the team has called up goaltender Michael Hutchinson to back-up Tim Thomas on Sunday, so they certainly don't expect him to be ready to play right away.

Rask belongs to Ryan M. in the draft this season and after this week, there may still be an outside shot that he makes it to the top 10, unless Rask is out for the long-term.  Ryan has had a great week in Week Twenty-Two with 26 points, but he still sits 33 points out with only a month and a bit left in the season.  There is no money impact here, but the top 10 would be a huge improvement from being in last place early on in the season.

The Colorado Avalanche are reportedly going to be without newly-acquired forward Steve Downie for their game against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday evening. Downie was injured on Saturday night during a multi-body pile up, hurting his shoulder, and the injury is considered to be significant enough to keep him out of action.  Downie has had some tests done on the shoulder since the game on Saturday night, but the results have not been disclosed, so all we can figure is that he is out day-to-day for right now.

Downie has been good since his move to Denver, keeping Wayne H. in the money conversation in the draft standings, but this injury could be significant, since he only holds a 1-point lead over Benson G. for 5th going into Sunday's action.  If the injury turns out to be more serious, this could be real trouble for Wayne's team.

The Capitals have called up goaltender Braden Holtby on Sunday morning to back-up Michal Neuvirth during their contest against the Philadelphia Flyers in the evening, thanks to an lower-body injury that will keep Tomas Vokoun from doing the job. Vokoun was hurt on Saturday and the team held out as long as they could to confirm his status for the game, but on Sunday, it was made official that he wouldn't dress, so Holtby had to come up. This is about all we know at the moment and he will be listed as out day-to-day.

No money value in this news byte, as this is another hit to Leon G.'s draft team, missing out on another possible start from Vokoun.  Leon now sits in 14th spot, 46 points out of the top 10.